'I'm Not Going to Lose': Usain Bolt Confident Going Into Rio

"I know the sport needs me to win — and come out on top," Bolt said

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Jamaica's Usain Bolt strikes his "lightening bolt" pose as he celebrates winning the men's 200-meter at the IAAF Diamond League Anniversary Games athletics meeting at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park stadium in Stratford, London, on July 22, 2016.

Whatever controversy is raging in the Olympic world there's one constant: Usain Bolt's bravado and self-confidence.

It's what is expected from the world's fastest man and greatest showman.

In his last lengthy media appointment before heading to Rio de Janeiro, Bolt spent around two hours over a Jamaican lunch last week in London, discussing his Olympic challenge prospects and the challenges of life.

When letting his guard down does Bolt sounded less invincible. Weighing on the Jamaican sprinter's mind is the fear of hitting 30 next month, the toll of injuries — and even being caught up in an extremist attack.

"It is scary," said Bolt, adopting a rare subdued tone. "But if you live scared, you don't live at all. So I try to live my life to the fullest and when it's my time, it's my time."

Bolt recalls being in Munich as news emerged of the truck attack in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day — July 14 — that killed 84 people. Munich was itself the scene of bloodshed last week with a teenager shot dead nine people.

Bolt usually goes to Munich every three months to visit his doctor, Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt.

"Especially at the start of last year I noticed that injuries take a little bit more time to get back to where you want to be," Bolt said. "My coach always tells me that the older you get it's going to get harder, and you have to push yourself."

"I guess it's not as important to them as it is to us who have been competing over the years," Bolt said. "It surprised me when I heard that golf was going to be in the Olympics. There are a few sports in the Olympics that make me go 'Argh.'"

The Olympics are unquestionably the pinnacle of track and field. But providing the spectacle desired is proving difficult for the men.

"This year is one of the poorest I have ever seen as an Olympic [field] for men really — the women have really shown more promise running fast times," Bolt said. "[The men] have really unperformed this season, but I'm sure when we get to the Olympics it won't be like that."

Bolt expects Rio to be his last Olympics, but he still dangles the possibility of a trip to Tokyo.

The vast majority of the Russian athletes who will miss the Rio Games are are in track and field, where 67 of its 68 athletes were ruled out when a ban on the Russian team was upheld at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week.

Sebastian Coe, head of track and field's governing body, has to deal with that.

But Coe is also the man tasked with making track and field "more exciting," as Bolt explains.

"I'm assuming Seb Coe has a plan," said Bolt, who advocates more street races. "Over time with different ideas, and the athletes that are coming up, the sport will stay current. It will take a while but I think it will get back to its former glory when I walk away."

"In football you have the debate who is the best footballer, but no one can debate who the fastest man in the world is," Bolt said. "It's going to be a long time, I think, before somebody comes who will be as talented as me to break my records."